VERLORENE UNSCHULD - s/t EP 1981

Puhhhh, a little tired from the hard weekend and all re-upp requests must wait until next week. Now Verlorene Unschuld, formed 1981 in Berlin by Raymond (vocals), Andreas & Straftat (guitars), Jörg (bass), Michael (drums) and they won the Senatsrockwettbewerb in the same year (a competition of Berlin bands), resulting in a government financed but self-distributed 7" production (1200 copies) and a sponsored gig in the capital. They signed to Pool/Teldec and produced one more single and a rare 12Inch. This nice piece of wax on Berlin Rock News is their debut vinyl and is not really a punk record & a bit atypical for Berlin bands at that time, we all know the AGR and Weird System bands but V.U. are a little different and have their own charm and delight us with three catchy mid-tempo goodies.

here

SERENE FALL - Silent Word 10'' 2015

I've already told a lot about Serene Fall, a gifted band from M'gladbach, founded as four piece, disbanded as three about four years. Silent World is the last record, released via Major Label in an edition of 500 copies. Four songs, all great and I remember, when I first heard the title track, Maul gave me a demo many years ago with damn good songs and Silent World was one of them, back as four recorded at the end of the 90s, I guess, I was immediately impressed and urged him to put the song on vinyl (as well as Just Friends but Udo didn't want that) and five years ago the masterpiece was finally immortalized as flip on this fantastic 10". I think, it wasn't easy to record this twelve minute piece with just one guitar but Maul (vocals/guitars), Udo (bass), Uli (drums) made the best of it and is one of the best songs by the band in my opinion. After their breakup, Maul and Uli continued as Carrows who released their demo as an EP this year, also on Major Label, 50 copies, and now active as Troops Of The Sun, their debut To Feed The Heart was released last year.

I re-upped all Serene Fall stuff before you ask because I know they would come. Enjoy!

here

CRANES - Wings Of Joy 1991

I'm a friend of the Cranes sound is nothing new and three previous posts (all re-upped) underline that and today comes #4: Wings Of Joy is the first full length studio album by British rock band Cranes, released in 1991 on Dedicated Records. This followed mini-album Self-Non-Self, released the previous year, and a limited cassette run, both on local indie label Bite Back!, and is seen as important to their growth as a band as it shows them 'continuing to expand their pallet', while the 'gripping, chilling atmosphere... hasn't moved an inch', hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing, evocative! Here's an excellent review from another empathetic friend which will inspire you for the typical Cranes sound:

"From the quiet, descending strings and woodwinds at the start of "Watersong," which launches Cranes' first proper full-length album, things are at once in sync with, and far removed from, the deep murk of the group's earliest days. The gripping, chilling atmosphere that Cranes dwell in hasn't moved an inch, but in terms of approach, it shows that on the (very well) self-produced Wings Of Joy, the quartet has continued to expand its palette. One thing to note is in the album credits: Matt Cope may have been initially invited in for live bass playing, but it's Alison Shaw who plays the shuddering, ominous deep notes throughout, and effectively at that. Check out her opening work on "Living and Breathing." It's a simple enough pattern, but delivered in such a context that it immediately conjures up a nervous, threatening mood. Jim Shaw's relentless percussion, never overbearing but always moving with a stately, ritualistic tinge, and his piano and keyboard arrangements -- elegant and haunting at once -- set the rest of the tone. His guitar, along with Mark Francombe & Cope's credited work, adds everything from brisk, gently creepy acoustic touches to vicious electric snarl. Add Alison Shaw's almost too wistfully calm and sweet singing -- just missing out on easy interpretation, but suggesting so much via delivery -- and the result is what most goth music, or any music with a sense of shadows and doom, aims for but generally misses.

With songs like the epic "Adoration" and the gentler "Tomorrow's Tears" already signaling the careful variety that dominates the album thanks to their previous appearance on EPs, the new material takes center stage here. "Starblood" is the most flat-out disturbing track, with Jim Shaw's slow-paced, pounding drums and Alison Shaw's guitar wailing slammed up against cold slabs of feedback. The album as a whole is a beautiful, if unsettling, piece of work. (Ned Raggett, AllMusic)" - I'm sure, you're hungry now and be happy to know another fantastic band more, touch it!.

here

V/A - Bloodstains Across The World #5 2019

Early hour on this Friday, I pack another Bloodstains compilation out with more rare early sounds from all over the world, and Volume 3 is once again as CD-R in vinyl look released and by the same detectives, I think. Half of the twenty songs are known to me and are always welcome, while the 'new' material is sometimes questionable and I personally would have made a different selection. But with so many unknown bands/songs I'm always amazed where music was made with sometimes first-class nuggets. And I don't hesitate long, as soon as a new release of this brilliant series is available. It's a shame that Killed By Death doesn't go any further. Maybe there comes one more hype like in the 90s, who knows. 100 copies exist and watch out for #6 next year. Have fun discovering new musical highlights!

1.Wanted - STRUGGLER

2.Riot Riot - BOMB SQUAD

3.Hippie Japa - ALERTA ROJA

4.Skizzo Skizzo - JO SQUILLO ELETRIX

5.Radiomania - SNEEX

6.Shoot' Zem - KESSLER JUGEND GMBH

7.Damned Money - THE RAVES

8.Urbanitrops - EARTHLING

9.Scheiss Kibarei - DIE BÖSLINGE

10.Crazy Life - THE TERRORISTS

11.1981 - RIOT 111

12.Demolition Beat - THE INCREDIBLE HOGS

13.Überblick - MITTAGSPAUSE

14.Desert Patrol - SUBURBAN REPTILES

15.Runaway Train - THE DECADENTS

16.Ne Haluu Unohtaa - POIS

17.Söngull - KUKL

18.All I Want - GENOCIDE EXIT

19.Dreamland - THE TAPES

20.No Time - CHRONIC

here

THE FITS - You Said We'd Never Make It!!! EP 1981

Debut EP of the Fits from Blackpool on Beat The System!! Records with three stamping Oi! Punk smasher and one thing first, I don't know where the third song went and who's got it, please send it to me. Info: The Fits formed in Blackpool in October 1979, with an initial line-up of Mick Crudge (vocals), Andy Baron (bass), Kev Halliday (drums), and "Big" Bill Hughes (guitar). They played their first gig only four days after forming, supporting Section 25 at Bispham Community Centre in Bispham. After four gigs, Big Bill was replaced by Steve Withers.The band's first release was a tape on Beat The System!! in 1980 called "You Named Us Tape" which was really a rehearsal recording with an interview with Bill Gumpy tagged on the end.

The band's first single, "You Said We'd Never Make It!!!" was recorded in June 1980. Local second-hand record shop owner Barry Lights sold it in his shop, and when the initial run of 1.500 had sold out, reissued it on his Beat The System label, the single eventually reaching #2 in the Sounds Punk Chart. Increasing exposure saw the band supporting moreestablished punk bands such as the UK Subs around the UK, and they were signed by the Rondelet label in November 1981. Rondelet issued their second single, "Think For Yourself" on New Year's Day 1982. In March 1982, the band entered the studio to record their album You're Nothing, You're Nowhere. The band were not happy with the album, and Halliday and Baron left the band shortly afterwards, to be replaced by Tez McDonald of One Way System and Ricky McGuire of Chaotic Youth. The new line-up had immediate success with the Last Laugh EP, which entered the UK Indie Chart in December 1982 and peaked at #44.

In 1985 the band broke up but in December 2011, they announced that they were re-forming for a one off gig at the Rebellion Festival in their hometown of Blackpool with a line-up of members through the years including Mick Crudge, Dave Broderick recently and over time a session drummer with various named bands, Ricky McGuire and new member Kerry Waite. Kerry Waite left in 2013 and has been replaced by Swedish guitarist and singer Calle Engelmarc (of The Members, Nigel Bennett Band, 96 Decibels, Feral Ghost and Nicolette Street & The Revs). The band released a 'comeback' record 'Offerings At The Altar' in 2015.

here

TOREROS AFTER OLÉ - Grabaciones RNE 1984 12'' 2011

We stay in the warm flow and visit the Iberian Peninsula and meet excellent music by Toreros After Olé, a three piece from Madrid that worked in the early 1980s, created around the figure of Manolo Malou (vocals/guitar), accompanied with Enrique (bass) & Jorge (drums). While having little impact at the time, is their legacy: a 12Inch which was released 1983, a brilliant slab and since circa the mid-1990s, they are considered as pioneers of hc/punk in Spain. This rare 12Inch was posthumous via Radikal 1977/Rumble Records released and was recorded in 1984 at Spanish Public Radio (Radio Nacional De España) and 500 copies were pressed, 300 black vinyl, 200 in red. Well, these two records and fourteen songs, that's unfortunately all what this short-lived band managed to create.

Info: Little is known about the activity of this group. Their name already appeared, as Toreros, in 1982 within a list of various groups promoted by the Pancoca distributor that appeared in magazines of the time, but there seems to be no record of concerts and other activities of the group, which is why, when their only album was published, in a fanzine they called the group, probably unfairly, a "prefabricated and rotten product". The only certain data known is the date of the recording of the only slab, which took place in Amsterdam in May 1983. The EP, untitled, although sometimes named after the first song, Porom Pom Pero, was released by the label Nuevos Medios at the end of summer or early autumn of the same year, containing seven powerful songs. In this, as in the rest of the songs, the influence, unusual in the national punk of the moment, of American hardcore punk groups, and in particular Circle Jerks, is perceived. The songs are very elaborate in its composition, and executed with great professionalism, something also unusual in the Iberian punk of 1983 and in 1984 the band split up. This is just a small excerpt and more of the three on compilations, two of them on the blog. Solid Stuff, Enjoy!

here

PATROL - Unknown Soldiers EP 2000/The Revolution EP 2020

December knocks, cold outside and the first snow has fallen, bäh!... better I let the warmth flow in with two rare brilliant 7inches and I'm glad to feed you with excellent infos about them: "The Fab Four come from the cultural centre of the UK - Leven/Methil and apart from playing music, they are heavily involved in drinking. Musical influences range from Marie Osmond to Donnie Osmond. Patrol will consider all offers of recording contracts and will accept donations gratefully. The band's main ambition for the future is to make lots of money." That's what Patrol said on the insert for their second demo cassette, "Another Fiasco", in 1982. The bit about the money came true when in January 1997 each member made £12.50 from a live gig! Patrol organised and played many gigs in and around God's Kingdom (Fife) throughout the '80s - with bands such as The Actives, Alternative, Crimedesk, Brain Damage and loads more. After a "break" in 1987 there was a brief reformation in 1992 for a party gig with another local band "Backlash". In October 1996 Patrol got together again and supported Canadian band The McCrackins along with External Menace. This led to several other gigs around that time. From 2008-2014 Patrol played many gigs in Fife, Dundee & Edinburgh with local bands. The last gig that Jock Hart played was @ the Rebellion Festival in 2012. After Jock left, Kyle McAulay took over on drums and played with the band until the final gig - the Tam Dignan Memorial on 1st February 2014. Patrol were a part of the punk rock scene in Fife for more than thirty-five years, during this time two tapes (1981+82), two 7Inches (2000+2020) and a compilation CD, Never Say Never (2011, which was only available to purchase at gigs), with twenty tracks of re-recordings of old favorites plus some new material, are their official releases, on compilations as well.

- Great Thx to Fredrik & Bristolboy -

here

THE INSANE - Politics EP 1981

Let's go back to rough & dirty punkrock from the UK and a band that didn't make an official album, but four fantastic 7inches. Originally formed as a five-piece band from Wigan in 1979, Barry (vocals), "Psycho" (guitars), Dean (bass), "Bambi" (drums) and Tina (2nd guitar), there were two bands called "The Insane" for a while when the original band split. They were very young at the start, with some of the group having only just left school. The band were rank amateurs, with Tina utilising the one-finger down the neck method made infamous by Crass. The band gigged for a year or so before making their vinyl debut with a track called 'Nuclear War', which appeared on the 1981 compilation Ten From The Madhouse. Read further infos on punkygibbon. The band actually saw fourteen different line-ups in their career and also recorded for Riot City Records. Both David and Simon later became members of Flux Of Pink Indians. Ma gugge ob ich nachher noch was nachlege.

here

ABWÄRTS - Der Westen Ist Einsam 1982

An album that I haven't heard for a long time and thanks to iNgo, I dug up this nugget and realize how great this stuff is, the second Abwärts album. It sounds somber and darker than anything that previously appeared from the four, and can certainly be viewed in the context of the emerging Gothic culture. Critics put it in line with releases by British post-punk bands such as Theatre Of Hate and Killing Joke. Band boss Frank Ziegert confessed in an interview with Diedrich Diederichsen in 1988 that Abwärts had to a certain extent been forced by the punk audience at the beginning of the 1980s not to present any sophisticated compositions: “[…] we were literally afraid to make music. Everything always had to be hard, that was the word: hard. We increased ourselves into a senseless aggressiveness that had nothing to do with us at all, I wasn't really tough all the time and neither were the others." Unsatisfied with the care of their previous independent label ZickZack Platten, the group wanted to work more professionally and offer their next album to a major label. Work on it began in the autumn of 1981 at Hafenklang Studio Hamburg. A whole month of self-financed and self-produced studio recordings was followed by a week of mixing at The Town House in London by producer Nick Launay. At the end of 1981 the album was finished, which was then offered to various record companies for publication. For an advance payment of allegedly 50.000 DM, the band finally signed with the German major label Phonogram which released first the Beirut, Holiday Inn 12" with four tracks. "Der Westen Ist Einsam" is the first band release without Margita Haberland, who left the group in 1981.

The album was released in April 1982. For publication, they went from May 11th to June 13th 1982 on an extensive tour with side trips to Switzerland and Amsterdam. The group made a spectacular appearance at the Münchner-Rocktage-Festival, at which FM Einheit destroyed parts of the stage structure. At some concerts, the newly founded Toten Hosen played the supporting act. Down, in turn, was hired as the opening act for The Cure tour. On the title "Beim Ersten Mal Tut's Immer Weh", Muscha and Trini Trimpop produced a video clip and the group even published a homestory in the youth magazine Bravo. Despite all of this, the album did not achieve the sales figures we had hoped for. As a result, FM Einheit and Marc Chung left the band for good to concentrate on the Einstürzende Neubauten, of which they had already joined as full members in 1981. In addition, drug problems also led the band to bury themselves for the first time. - And now: Bundesliga ⚽

here

THE DICTATORS - Search & Destroy 12'' 1977

Well, this group completely passed me by and I have to say I didn't miss anything. We're talking about The Dictators which were from New York City. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bandsto walk the earth." Hmmm... that may be, but I have to admit that their sound doesn't appeal to me. The Iggy cover is okay but the flip is a waste of time. Anyway, a bit info: the band was formed in 1972 by Andy "Adny" Shernoff who was attending The State University of New York at New Paltz and Ross "The Boss" Friedman who was playing in the local band Total Crudd. Scott "Top Ten" Kempner was asked to join and the trio rented a house in Kerhonkson, NY where they lived and rehearsed with various drummers.

The original recording line-up consisted of vocalist/bassist/songwriter Andy Shernoff, lead guitarist Ross Friedman (aka Ross Funicello), rhythm guitarist Scott Kempner, and drummer Stu Boy King. It was this line-up–along with roadie/occasional vocalist and "Secret Weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba–which recorded the band's 1975 debut album, The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! for Epic Records, produced by Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman (best known for their work with Blue Öyster Cult). The album sold poorly at the time but is now considered to be the starting point for American punk rock . Entertainment Weekly wrote "Go Girl Crazy's junk-generation culture and smart-aleck sensibility did provide an essential blueprint for '70s punk. With its TV references and homely vocals, this ground-breaking and long-unavailable album continues to inspire underground groups everywhere..... They made seven  albums and are apparently still on their way. Now it's bedtime.

here